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Nowadays, I'm mostly focused on preparing for my high school finals.
But in my free time... Well I started to plan the 3rd Møns Klint Fossil Excavation (MKFE), as part of the larger Møns Klint Fossil Research Program.
This field session has been planned for mid-August, and will last about 2 weeks - needless to say, I'm pretty excited Especially when considering the success of the 2nd MKFE...
Collection policy will remain mostly the same as last time, meaning that arthropod, cephalopod, echinoderm and vertebrate material will be the priority. Of course, there will be a slight change; with more focus on articulated/associated remains (because single, eroded fragments are becoming a bit too numerous...).
Also, last year, when I was collecting anything significant (e.g. articulated echinoderm remains), I forgot to try and find associated zone fossils. This time, I'll remember to collect zone fossils (brachiopods and belemnites), as they can be pretty useful for determining more precisely the age of a specimen.
Of course, I'll use this field trip as an opportunity to donate to the GeoCenter museum some of the fossils from the 2nd MKFE.
Can't wait to go back there!!
-Christian

Just found out about this book - "Fossils of the Harrana Fauna and the Adjacent Areas" (2009), written by Hani Kaddumi. It basically describes the marine fauna of the Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation, a Maastrichtian unit represented in parts of Jordan. Due to faunal content and age, I think it'd be a good source for contextual information regarding my MKFRP project.
Would anyone have a PDF of the book?
citation details: Kaddumi, H. F. (2009). Fossils of the Harrana Fauna and the Adjacent Areas. Publications of the Eternal River Museum of Natural History, Amman, pp. 232-239.
Thanks for any help
-Christian

Hey everyone,
I recently came back from a trip to England. Most of the time was spent in museums, especially London's Natural History Museum. Over there, I met the Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology (Tim Ewin), who showed me around some parts of the Echinoderm Collections. Basically, the goal of this visit was to examine some of the echinoderms from the British Chalk, for some comparative research material for my MKFRP project. Some of the stuff in those collections is absolutely amazing - and the amount of material in there is really extensive.
This thread will show some of the chalk echinoderm material that I saw over there.
Hope you guys'll like this!
2 very well articulated Tylocidaris clavigera in a single nodule of chalk
g on
Drawer filled with "tylocidarine" regular echinoids. The pink colouring on some of the specimens is due to the fact that some of them needed to have the fine details rendered sharper (this was before the age of digital photography)
Partial Tylocidaris clavigera associated with a disarticulated goniasterid (Asteroidea, Goniasteridae) starfish
Very well preserved and nearly complete Nymphaster marginatus goniasterid
Neat little example of the goniasterid Metopaster
Calyx and partial arm of the free-floating crinoid Marsupites testudinarius (sorry for not very good photo quality )
Articulated columnals of an isocrinid crinoid (possibly Isocrinus); this is specifically relevant to my MKFRP project given the age of that fossil (Early Maastrichtian)
To finish things off… It's not very "chalk-y", but it's definitely special - a Palaeocoma milleri ophiuroid from the Early Jurassic of Lyme Regis, collected by Mary Anning

Just got this new idea for a future MKFRP research avenue Basically, on the beach near the cliffs, there is this area filled with small bits of fossils washed out from the chalk (the so-called "washout zone"). I'll make a sampling of that area, with a few control variables included (i.e. sampling area, maximum sampling depth, fossil size class, quantity of fossils). The sampling will be done by scooping washout material with a bucket & spade, bringing it home and then picking out individual fossils.
Based on the fossils collected, I'll then establish relative faunal abundances based on percentages of particular fossil groups. The results obtained from the data will hopefully help to further understanding of the paleoecology of Møns Klint.
Similar research has been done on places like Stevns Klint or Rügen, so I'd be expecting similar results for Møns Klint.
Small preliminary hypothesis: fish remains won't have reach an abundance higher than ~5%
Closeup picture of the "washout material"; taken from Meyer (2015) - "Fossilerne fra Møns Klint"

If you guys might remember from a another tread, I said that some of the documents from the Møns Klint Paleontological Library are too large to be uploaded to TFF. Instead, the papers (see below) can be sent by email. This post can be considered as some sort of "storage facility", where all the records of large files are held. Keep in mind that not all of the papers make a direct reference to Møns Klint's paleo-fauna, but can instead be used as "comparative research material to contextualise and broaden understanding of MK's fossil fauna" (forgive my excess of pedantic language there)
If you wish to have any of the following works, please include your email address and the number(s) of the desired work(s) in your reply. A pdf copy (or copies) shall be sent to you by email upon request. The list of numbered works can be seen below.
1) Birkelund (1993): "Ammonites from the Maastrichtian White Chalk of Denmark" - complete review of the Danish chalk ammonite fauna, very useful for field ID. Some of the material presented in the paper is from MK
2) Hansen & Surlyk (2014): "Marine macrofossil communities in the uppermost Maastrichtian chalk of Stevns Klint, Denmark" - a good number of the faunal elements reviewed in the paper are very similar (if not identical) to MK
3) Jagt (2000): "Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene echinoderms and the K/T boundary in the southeast Netherlands and northeast Belgium --- Part 3: Ophiuroids; with a chapter on: Early Maastrichtian ophiuroids from Rügen (northeast Germany) and Møn (Denmark) by Kutscher & Jagt" - this comprehensive review describes a good amount of ophiuroid material from MK
4) Jagt (2000): "Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene echinoderms and the K/T boundary in the southeast Netherlands and northeast Belgium --- Part 4: Echinoids" - none of the material is from MK but many of the taxa presented in the paper can be found at MK
5) Jagt (2000): "Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene echinoderms and the K/T boundary in the southeast Netherlands and northeast Belgium --- Part 5: Asteroids" - no material from MK, but many taxa presented in the paper can be found over there. There is a small reference to Pycinaster aff. cornutus marginal ossicles from the Lower Maastrichtian of MK.
6) Jagt et al. (1999): "Giant scaphitid ammonites from the Maastrichtian of Europe" - can be used to identify fossils of Acanthoscaphites and Hoploscaphites (two scaphitid genera from MK)
7) Ravn (1928): [in Danish] "De regulære echinider i Danmarks kridtaflejringer" [the regular echinoids from the Danish Chalk exposures] - somewhat outdated, but can be useful for field ID. It also includes some of the most detailed accounts of regular echinoids from MK
8) Reich et al. (2004): "The echinoderms of the Rügen White Chalk (Maastrichtian, Germany)"- general overview of the echinoderm fauna from the Rügen chalk, which is almost identical to that of MK
9) Reich & Frenzel (2002): [in German with an abstract in English] "Die Fauna ind Flora der Rügener Schreibkreide (Maastrichtium, Ostsee)" [The fauna and flora of the Rügen Chalk (Maastrichtian, Blatic Sea] - very comprehensive account of the fossil fauna from the Rügen chalk, which can be used to ID material from MK due to very similar faunal contents
10) Schlüter et al. (2012): "Late Cretaceous phymosomatids and the true identity of Cidarites granulosus Goldfuss, 1829 (Echinoidea, Phymosomatoida)" - some of the phymosomatid material presented is from MK
So what paper(s) would you want? Feel free to pick any!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Møns Klint Paleontological Library! It consists of (mostly) papers dealing with the chalk fauna from the Maastrichtian of Møns Klint, and a few related topics. Entrance fee is 10 eur- just kidding But if you guys want some of the larger PDF's (which can't be attached here), I can send them to you by email.
Enjoy...
-Adolfssen & Ward 2014: "Crossing the boundary: an elasmobranch fauna from Stevns Klint, Denmark" - describes the rather extensive record of various shark teeth from Maastrichtian and K-Pg boundary Danish sediments. Most of the specimens described are from Stevns Klint, but two taxa (a possible Megasqualus sp. squalid and Anomotodon plicatus) are represented by material from Møns Klint
Adolfssen & Ward 2014 Danish Chalk elasmobranchs.pdf
-Jørgensen 1979: "The ostracod fauna from the Maastrichtian white chalk of Denmark" - presents an overview of the ostracod fauna from the Danish chalk and compares it to faunas of similar sites (i.e. Rügen)
Jørgensen 1979 Danish chalk ostracod fauna.pdf
-Lindgren & Jagt 2005: "Danish Mosasaurs" - describes the scant remains (2-3 teeth and a few bone scraps) of mosasaurs in Maastrichtian Danish sediments. Recognised taxa include Mosasaurus cf. hoffmanni and Plioplatecarpus sp. Nothing described in the paper was found at Møns Klint (the first mosasaur remains from there had been found 2 years after the publication of this paper), but the material from MK is similar to what is in this paper.
Lindgren & Jagt 2005 Danish Mosasaurs.pdf
-Nielsen & Rosenkrantz 1942: "Martinosigra elongata n. g. et n. sp. a New Echinoid from the White Chalk of Denmark" - describes the Danish record of Martinosigra elongata, a holasteroid (irregular) echinoid; the remains were collected from Møns Klint and Rørdal (northern Jutland). The MK material illustrated in the paper consists of a partial echinoid "neck"
Nielsen & Rosenkrantz 1942 Martinosigra from the Danish Chalk.pdf
There's more to come...

Looking through @KansasFossilHunter's blog, I saw one of his posts was a "narrative essay" (you should check it out, it's really good! ). This gave me the idea to write an account of one of my MKFE fossil hunts. I hope you guys enjoy it!
Resurrecting the Cretaceous
The fine, almost mist-like rain fell gently in sheets and imbued the skin of my face. Despite the lack of intensity, this slow downpour had been going on for the past half hour, and water was starting to seep through my clothing. I was beginning feel very cold.
A loud metallic clank (presumably from a hammer) brought me back to the task at hand. I looked around. In front of me, the white chalk cliffs of Møns Klint towered, shrouded in a veil of thick fog. I could hear behind me the sound of waves ploughing through innumerable pebbles of flint. The entire atmosphere felt… otherworldly – I was almost expecting to see the large head of a mosasaur, breaching through the turbulent waters of the Tethys- no, the Baltic sea. Indeed, this cliff was highly fossiliferous – it could almost be considered as some marine “graveyard” from the Late Cretaceous.
I got back to work. I was currently excavating a tubular and hollow fossil. At the time, I couldn’t identify it. With the aid of small dental tools, I chipped the soft rock encapsulating the fossil. I felt the fragment come loose, and tensed in anticipation as I gently pried the fossil from its chalky tomb. As I began to safely wrap it in kitchen paper, I looked momentarily back at the excavation site and saw something rather unexpected: the same pattern of the fossil I had just pulled out of the rock. There was more of this fossil. Armed with my small metallic pick, I continued working around the unidentified invertebrate fragment. What was it? Some weirdly preserved crinoid? Focus, Christian. You can ID it later. This was getting very strenuous. The cold, the exhaustion… I toiled on, nevertheless, with grim determination. Shortly after, I got another fragment out of the chalk. This stuff was really brittle, it was already starting to crumble in my hands as I was wrapping it. If only I had taken some PVA.
As I thought that that was the end of it, I went back to the cliff wall to gather my tools. I looked back up. Don’t tell me… The fossil was still continuing!
Alright then. Time to get out the big guns. Ignoring my family’s requests that I speed up a bit (fossil excavation takes time, alright?), I picked up my hammer and chisel. Small wet bits of chalk flecking my coat, I started hammering off chunks of chalky overburden. I repositioned my chisel so as to slightly modify the angle at which I was striking the rock.
I soon saw a thin crack appearing, meaning that the piece of rock containing the fossil was starting to come loose. I gave a few more taps with my hammer, and then pried off the matrix-surrounded fossil.
It really wasn’t surprising that there was still more of the fossil in the cliff face. Let’s hope this is the last bit. After all, the visible diameter of this invertebrate seemed to have decreased as I uncovered more of the fossil.
Reiterating the work I had been doing up until now, I pried rock from around the “calcareous tube”.
Just as I was asking myself if this fossil would ever reach an end, the rock started to come loose. Once the fossil was wrapped in kitchen paper, I looked back at the cliff wall. There was no more trace of the fossil. Finally. I used my dental pick to scrape a bit around, just to make sure.
We packed up the fossils and gathered the tools, ready to leave – and say goodbye to Møns Klint I was going to miss that place.
Just as we were about to head up the long cliff-front staircase to get back to the parking, my mum picked up a large block of chalk for me to work on – once back at home. Why hadn’t I thought about that before?
Safely seated in my parents’ car, I looked out of the window. The atmosphere still felt “prehistoric”: the slight hint of fog, the damp trees shivering in the wind, even the bumpy dirt road… At this moment, I really wouldn’t have been surprised to see a flock of small velociraptorine dromaeosaurs, crashing through the undergrowth and rushing to the opposite side of the road. It was almost as if my fossil excavations had brought back to life animals long gone, from the Late Cretaceous.
N. B. Subsequent research indicated the fossil I was excavating was a serpulid polychaete
Field photography of the in situ serpulid (in the black circle). The end of a chisel is in the left

A few days ago, I started in another thread a gallery of fossils from Møns Klint held at the "on-site museum" GeoCenter MK. I thought that it would be more appropriate to continue this gallery in the "A Trip to the Museum" forum. This post will deal with a multitude of fossils that are more common than the exceptional Danekrae fossils (but you'll see that some of them are rather rare). All the fossils pictured here are exhibited at "The Fossil Room".
Hope you like them!
2 partial stems of the crinoid Isselicrinus sp. preserved in a single piece of chalk - uncommon
2 nodules of flint that preserve associated and articulated ossicles of the goniasterid asteroid (starfish) Recurvaster sp. - relatively rare
Partial mandibular rami from a thoracosaurine crocodylian - unique; no other crocodylian remains have been found at MK (temporarily removed from display to facilitate my research of the specimen in summer)
Calyces from 3 Bourgueticrinus constrictus crinoids - relatively common
2 teeth from a Cretalamna appendiculata shark - rare
Complete tooth from a Hexanchus microdon shark - rare
Articulated and associated ossicles from the goniasterid asteroid Metopaster poulseni (includes at least one arm) - rare
Temnocidaris pistillum (cidarid echinoid) spines - relatively common
Phymosoma granulosum (phymosomatid echinoid) spines - relatively common
Complete Phymosoma granulosum test (echinoid "shell" composed of numerous ossicles) - relatively rare
Partial Baculites vertebralis (baculitid heteromorph ammonite) shell - rare
Sphenodiscus sp.; almost complete ammonite shell - rare
Rather long stem of the crinoid Isselicrinus buchii - relatively rare
Well, that was the MK fossil gallery! Tell me what you think about it
Best,
Christian

Hello, and welcome to my new MKFRP thread! In this new thread, there are going to be a lot more details, accounts, and of course… pictures, than in the previous one. I hope you enjoy it here
For those who don't remember (or who haven't heard of this), the MKFRP is a research project based on the extensive collection and research of fossil material from the Lower Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of Møns Klint, Denmark. The project was put in place given that this fossil site is highly diverse (more than 120 macrofossil taxa), but has been given too little paleontological attention. The goal of the MKFRP is to promote greater understanding and knowledge of the paleontology of this fossil site.
The fieldwork aspect of this project consists of "MKFE's" (Møns Klint Fossil Excavations), organised week/fortnight-long field trips of which the central goal is to collect a large quantity of fossil material (especially from cephalopods, echinoderms and vertebrates). The first MKFE was a success, in which many echinoderm fossils (and one shark tooth) had been collected.
The second MKFE will last 2 weeks, and is scheduled for the 2nd and 3rd weeks of July.